Food

Since eating healthy can be a bit costly at times, a lot of people think it’s more trouble than it’s worth. However, healthy eating doesn’t always have to cost you so much money – especially when you shop smart.

With the right attitude and the a little bit of planning ahead, you can eat quite healthily at an affordable price. So before you decide to pay the chippy around the corner a little visit, think about how much more you can save if you follow these simple tips:

1. Write it down: Sound like a no brainer? Not to all! Decide on what you’ll need for the week ahead and write it down. When you’re shopping for food, stick to your list and don’t be tempted by all those products marketers keep at eye-level to catch your attention.

2. Meal plan: If you take anything from this article, take this: meal planning is key when it comes to staying on top of your healthy eating game. Cook in bulk, have your din dins and then freeze the rest. This way you can avoid ordering a takeout and just eat what you’ve already made.

3. Look out for special offers: When there’s a special offer on, it’s a good idea to stock up and buy in bulk. You’ll be saving more money this way, and if you’re worried about your food going off, keep it in the freezer. Some foods have to be frozen in a special way, so be sure to research how to freeze certain types of foods.

4. Go to the market: You’d be surprised by how much cheaper fruit and vegetable are at the market. Dedicate one of your mornings to buying a load of fruit/veg at the market – your body will thank you for it!

5. Ignore the brands: If you’re on a tight budget then forget the fancy packaging and the overrated brands. Just because a brand is popular it doesn’t necessarily make it better. Focus on the content not the brand.

6. Shop seasonally: Fresh products that are in season are generally cheaper than non seasonal products. So if you can, try to shop seasonally.

7. Shop around: I know grocery shopping isn’t as fun as shopping for shoes, handbags or clothes. But if you look around before you shop, you will find the best deals and maybe even come across reduced items.

8. Don’t forget coupons: I’m awfully bad at keeping coupons. But the more I think about it, the more I wonder how much more money I could have saved had I kept them all. Be sure to keep your coupons and collect your points, this can help you in more ways than just one.

9. Keep a diary: If you keep track of everything you eat on a daily basis it will help you stay on top of things. In just a few days you’ll be able to see how far you’ve come and it will be more motivate you to keep going.

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Summer is officially over, the New Year is approaching and you’ve already decided that one of your resolutions will be to go on a diet and stick to it – like always.

However, there’s a chance you could be wasting your time and money trying to follow diet plans that will probably never work. I’m not trying to discourage you here or anything but as it turns out, the reasons behind a lot of failed diets go beyond lacking persistence and not having enough willpower.

Instead, much of our dieting downfalls come down to our personality types and more often than not, we set out goals that we are genetically incapable of sticking to.

According to new research, the relationship you have with food actually depends on your ‘eating personality.’ Whether we’re ‘rushers’, ‘pickers’ or ‘socialisers’, our eating personality has a huge impact on whether or not we can stick to diet plans.

‘Rushers’ are women who don’t make great diet choices because they don’t have enough time – they usually resort to ready-made meals.

‘Pickers’ snack in between meals, and ‘bingers’ are the ones who starve themselves for ages and then down a colossal amount of food in one go – “I had plain greek yoghurt for breakfast and then a carrot for lunch. Then I came home and ate the entire kitchen,” sound like you?

Other personalities include ‘comfort eaters’ (the type I’m all too familiar with), ‘socialisers,’ who put on weight because of their drinking habits and ‘settlers,’ who pile up on the pounds once they’ve gotten into a relationship – the get ‘em and trap ‘em kinda gals!

Although your eating personality affects your dieting, it’s no reason to use it as an excuse to why you aren’t losing weight. Once you identify your weaknesses and work out what exactly it is that makes you want to eat (besides hunger),dieting becomes a tad bit easier!

I guess there’s always comfort in knowing that a lack of will power isn’t entirely to blame for our bad food choices…….

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I’m a huge fan of avocados. I love how you can have them with something sweet or you could enjoy them with something savory. Something hot or something cold. As a side dip or a main…..they’re just so versatile!

Lately, I’ve been trying to get a lot more of these into my meals. Since the average avocado has over 200 calories as well as healthy fats, it’s the perfect fruit – yes it’s a fruit, to build muscle tissue and gain weight. Not to mention how good it tastes…..

Now you know why I like my avocados, but why should you get more of these into your diet?

Healthy skin

Of course, anything that’s good for your skin doesn’t get past me. Not only do the antioxidants in this fruit help get rid of the toxins that promote early aging and wrinkles but, they’re also high in vitamin E which is well known for protecting the skin- clearly you’re in good hands!

Good fat

Again, healthy fat. The ones your body actually needs. People with a low-fat diet usually find themselves with sugar cravings (that won’t sit well in the belly!)

Filling

Since avocados contain fiber, you will find only one of these will keep you full for a while. You won’t feel hungry again until long after you’ve had a full avocado – sounds like a lot for some, but believe me, after a work out I could eat a horse – no joke!

Healthy oils

This means it can help restore your healthy body weight. So even if you aren’t trying to gain weight, you could still do with a bit of avocados every now and again,

Versatile

Use it to make a salad or a smoothie. It works well as a replacement for butter or to make ice cream (yeah that’s a new one, but it’s actually nice!)

Hope I’ve convinced you to eat some more avocados, if not, check out my avocado ice cream recipe below (not the time of year for it I know, but I guess you can say I’m a bit contrary!)

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I never thought I’d ever see the day I’d praise something that I don’t even enjoy eating! It’s not very like me to recommend the things I don’t like, but I guess I’d have to be fair once and a while so my promise to you is that I will not impose any of my personal feelings towards dark chocolate in this post (not intentionally anyways), instead, I will just give you cold hard facts on the benefits of consuming dark chocolate!

Just so we’re on the same page, I must say that if you really want to enjoy the health benefits of dark chocolate then you would have to be looking at the ones that contain over 70% cacao; the darker the chocolate, the less sugar and milk it contains and the closer it is to cacao, the secret behind it’s health benefits.

Cacao is probably one of the main sources of health benefits from the consumption of dark chocolate. The reason being that it produces neurotransmitters in the brain such as dopamine and serotonin which are associated with feelings of well-being and happiness…..

Do you see where I’m going with this???

It’s a natural anti-depressant! So don’t be afraid to indulge yourself with a bit of 70%+ if you’re feeling kinda down!

Alright so now you’re thinking, ”it might help me with my mood and I wouldn’t feel as down if I take a few squares of it, but what about the fat? Isn’t it as fattening as all the other chocolates out there???” I’m afraid not!! The fat that is in dark chocolate comes primarily from plants so it would be a lot healthier for you. It contains the fatty acid that is also found in olive oil and this promotes antioxidant activity and also prevents heart disease. So as long as you look for a dairy-free bar (which would contain more of the bad fat), I can assure you that you have nothing to worry about if you’re taking these in small doses!

What about the beauty benefits?

Dark chocolate contains an antioxidant called flavinoid which are usually found in plants such as the cacao plant. These bad boys are associated with the anti-aging effects in the skinand the flavinoid found in dark chocolate are greater than the antioxidants found in some berries. So if you’re feeling guilty about passing on the fruit salad the other day, you can forgive yourself!

Lastly, these flavinoids also absorb UV light which helps protect your beautiful skin from the sun. It also increases blood flow to the skin which improves your complexion and keeps your skin well hydrated.

Now that you know that dark chocolate isn’t all that bad, you no longer have to make this a secret pleasure. Just remember, the more bitter the chocolate, the higher the cacao content and the better it is for you! 🙂

If you’re not convinced, here’s a few more articles that you can read: